By analyzing how concepts like “freedom,” “democracy,” and “peace” have changed and been used over time and in different contexts, Kozelec’s conceptual history helps us better understand political and social phenomena in contemporary societies through past and present conceptual understandings.
When people use concepts like “freedom,” “democracy,” and “peace,” they don’t always mean the same thing. In the case of freedom, some people use the term to emphasize a state of freedom from restraint, while others use it to emphasize voluntarism or active participation. These differences in definition and interpretation have always led to controversy and debate about the concept. Kozelec’s ‘conceptual history’ emerged in response to this phenomenon.
Kozelec, a German historian who developed conceptual history as a branch of historiography, said, ‘Concepts are indicators and elements of reality. This statement serves as an important guide to organize the intertwined relationship between concepts and political and social reality, and between concepts and historical reality. According to him, concepts are mirrors that reflect realities such as political events and social changes. At the same time, concepts are the actual elements of political and social events and changes. For example, through the concept of “modernization” we can read a certain direction of social change, namely modernization. At the same time, the concept of “modernization” acts as a driver for people to change their society to meet the specific goals of modernization.
Kozelec’s conceptual history focuses on exploring the interplay between historical reality and concepts. It goes beyond the meaning of words to show how concepts are transformed and used within the political, social, and cultural context of their time. For example, the concept of “revolution” does not simply refer to radical change; its meaning has expanded and changed as it has been used for a variety of political and social purposes in specific times and contexts. Understanding this process of change is important for a deeper understanding of the concepts we use today.
Concepts are used by a variety of actors who are directly involved in political events and social change, or who record and interpret them. The concepts used by these actors, or “historical actors,” are layered with multiple meanings. Conceptual history explores these layers in relation to socio-historical realities, exploring how concepts have been used, how their meanings have changed over time, what implications have been projected onto them, and how they have functioned.
Conceptual history is also interested in how concepts are used and talked about, rather than what they are talked about. Conceptual history reveals the differences between the concepts used by historical actors in the past to describe the “present” as they experienced it, and the concepts used by us today to understand historical narratives of the “past” from our perspective, and it takes steps to reveal how the two can converge in the translation of past history into present history.
As we can see, conceptual history contrasts concepts with reality and contrasts past and present concepts to explore whether the concepts accurately represent the reality they correspond to, or whether they hinder and even distort our understanding of reality. In doing so, Kozelec criticizes modern historiography’s insistence on a “single correct description” of the past, and seeks to meaningfully communicate the historical reality constructed by historical actors in the past and the historical reality created by historians in the present.
Kozelec’s conceptual history can be applied in a variety of fields. Literature, political science, sociology, and other disciplines can utilize the methodology of conceptual history to understand the social and political context of an era, and to rethink contemporary meaning through the process of conceptual change. It goes beyond simply recording historical facts and contributes to analyzing and understanding the impact of historical concepts on contemporary society. Consequently, conceptual history is not just a tool for understanding the past, but can be an important key to understanding the present and future.
